


Fevered

by Anonymous



Category: Supernatural
Genre: BAMF Castiel (Supernatural), First Aid, Gen, Hurt Castiel, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Castiel, Protective Dean Winchester, Protective Sam Winchester, Sam carries Cas, Unconscious Castiel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-17 13:13:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16517135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Sometimes, they end up in over their heads.They always come out on top, but it’s never unscathed.This time is no different.





	Fevered

It’s no coincidence. Three weeks after ATF agent Will Bruhmer goes missing on a backwoodsman style retreat, the vampire pack the brothers have been tracking steps up their game. 

There’s a tactical quality to them, now, when they hunt. A ruthless efficiency. Dean marks it, figures on a change in the pack’s hierarchy; it’s a different beast now. 

And a beast that knows it’s on someone’s radar. But Bruhmer’s rep is that he was always very sure of himself. 

Cas is home by the time they’re packing to leave so that balances it out. Dean kind of wants to see Mr. Vampire ATF agent come up against the commander of a Heavenly garrison. 

Yeah. This one’s going to be interesting. 

**

He takes the head of the third vamp while Sam grapples with two more. Across the empty warehouse lot, Bruhmer is backing up fast from the angel advancing on him, and throwing his own people at Cas like canon fodder. 

Cas stabs and smites and then sees Bruhmer making a run for it. 

And gives chase. But something about it all screams wrong to Dean. He battles another vamp as he tries to put himself in the agent’s shoes. 

The fight could still go either way. There’s enough of them to be a challenge and Bruhmer...he thinks. He strategizes and he plans. 

And from what Dean remembers from the guy’s record, he never gives up or retreats. There’re a few commendations on his file for that. 

A few reprimands as well. 

He’s not fleeing Cas. 

He’s leading him. 

But before Dean can shout a warning, the air is filled with pressure and heat and he’s knocked down hard. 

Sam, too, slamming into the ground and going still. 

Where Cas was, though, all Dean can see is ruin. Half the damn wall is a heap of smoking rubble. 

No. Not again. 

He tries to scrabble to his feet, but something hits him hard in the back and he’s done. 

—

Of course, Bruhmer would be studying them as they were studying him. Profiling them, which is how he comes to have the brothers handcuffed on their knees. 

And their angel chained to an old metal worktop. 

Out cold, but thank God, alive. 

At least there’s less vamps now than before but with two standing guard over them, and another three hungrily circling Cas like starving dogs waiting on permission to feed, Dean isn’t sure that’s enough of a plus. 

He was so damn sure they had this. Maybe he’s no different than Bruhmer and his unassailable certainty that things would go their way. 

Except Bruhmer seems to have been right. 

He moves between the vamps prowling around Cas, and puts his hand on Cas’s chest, and mutters a few words. 

Dean snarls at him, Sam yells their angel’s name, and Bruhmer steps back with a smirk on his face. 

A moment later, huge black wings unfurl from nowhere, ends hanging limply off the worktop. 

Dean curses and threatens but it makes no difference. Bruhmer smiles indulgently at the vamps surrounding Cas and steps away. 

He lets the brothers have a clear view as he tells them how he’d promised his followers a special treat in return for their loyalty, and thanks the Winchesters for helping him with that. 

The first vampire grabs a handful of Cas’s wing and brings it to her mouth. That first bite is tentative but she must like what she tastes because her eyes widen in pleased surprise. 

She looks back at the other two, who’d held back, and nods. 

Cas’s blood trickles from her lips. 

Dean wants to look away but he doesn’t. He got Cas into this. He won’t let him go through it alone. 

—

They feed until they’re bloated, sluggish, and by then Cas’s wings are a torn bloody mess. 

Dean’s stuck between being grateful Cas is still unconscious and being terrified that Cas is still unconscious because what if he doesn’t ever wake up? What if he’s really, badly (fatally) hurt?

Bruhmer stands before them now the show’s over. He lays out his plans. They’ve all impressed him. So he’ll turn the brothers. They’ll make excellent additions to the pack and help make up for the numbers they killed tonight. 

Angels, alas, can’t be turned. But they can be a long term food source so Bruhmer will keep Cas around. 

And once the brothers are changed, he’ll be the first one they feed from. Dean tries to find defiance in himself, somewhere, but it crumbles into nothing faced with the stark reality of their situation. 

That’s when he hears one of the padlocks holding Cas tumble to the ground. A second later, two of the vampires scream. 

Bruhmer’s turning around as their bodies hit the floor, burned out husks, and then the third vamp comes flying through the air. 

Bruhmer ducks, and that vampire hits the ones standing over the brothers and knocks them flat. Dean feels the moment the cuffs around his wrists click open and then their machetes come skiting across the ground. 

Sam scoops his up just as Dean does, and they have a moment to see Cas shrugging off his chains, and getting onto shaky feet to face Bruhmer. 

Then the vampires behind them are getting up and Dean has to trust that Cas has this. That he won’t let himself get killed. 

He doesn’t.

—

It takes them three hours to reach the bunker. By then, Cas is a feverish mess, hanging limply between them. It makes getting him from the car to the steps to the door difficult, and in the end Sam just takes him from Dean and hoists Cas into his arms. 

His wings too and the movement must hurt because Cas cries out once and then he’s dead to the world. 

Dean shakes his head at Sam’s guilty look. Getting Cas to the infirmary…. It would have hurt worse. This….this is better. 

Sam sets Cas face down on one of the beds and helps Dean carefully splay the limp wings. 

This close, the damage looks much worse. There’s chunks of chewed flesh, swollen gaps where feathers were torn out in the feeding frenzy. The bites are already inflamed, and Dean swears he can smell the start of infection. 

Not uncommon with untreated bites on survivors: vampires aren’t fussy eaters and good dental hygiene is way down their list of priorities. 

Cas can probably heal all of this given enough time but there’s no reason not to give him a helping hand. 

They make up lukewarm saltwater and start from there, cleaning out each bite, or scrape where the angel’s wings were manhandled. The worst need stitching, and Sam does that, while Dean pulls the feathers that are broken or half out anyway because those fuckers grabbed hold of them. 

He hopes it hurt when Cas burned them. 

But then it’s done. Dean puts his hand to Cas’s forehead and nods to Sam. Cooler, now. Grace kicking in. 

All that’s left to do is wait. 

They pull up chairs, one to either side of the bed, and settle there quietly until Cas wakes up.


End file.
